At the 2003 Local Government Managers Australia National Congress in Adelaide, FOCUS invited delegates to nominate an individual and team from their Council who are excelling in their field and promoting the organisation’s corporate goals. In this edition we showcase two more of our competition winners.
Team Winner – Tree Management Team, Shellharbour City Council, New South Wales
A small team is making a big impact on the environment at Shellharbour Council, the fastest growing City in New South Wales. Council’s Tree Management Team comprises just three officers, but their enthusiasm and dedication is producing startling results across the NSW south coast City.
Under the guidance of Tree Management Officer, Scott Rowe, they are responsible for the planting, nurturing and management of new street trees in Shellharbour’s many new residential areas.
Council recently hosted the City’s most successful National Tree Day celebrations, distributing and planting 6,000 trees and running a three day display in Shellharbour’s largest shopping centre. The Tree Management Team has also implemented Parkcare, a planting and beautification program for local parks that complements Council’s regular tree maintenance program.
Parkcare’s pilot project was launched in 2001 at Dawes Park, Barrack Point, where 90 trees were planted initially by 50 volunteers. The project has gained momentum, with up to 80 volunteers attending regular quarterly working bees, and hundreds of trees, flowering shrubs and ground covers being planted following the success of the pilot. A group of about 30 volunteers is working with Council to transform Albion Park into a green oasis. The park’s dam, which doubles as a water retention basin, will form the centrepiece of the upgraded reserve. Scott Rowe said Parkcare was aimed at building a sense of community as well as improving the environment.
“Barbecues and social functions play an important role and National Tree Day has always featured on the Parkcare calendar,” he said.
His team includes arborist Ben Whitaker, who operates Council’s chipper and tree pruning and removal truck. Ben was named Apprentice of the Year in 2000 while completing his parks and gardens qualification at Council. He studied arboriculture as a post trade certificate and became the City’s arborist in 2001 Ben is qualified to teach other members of the Parks and Gardens Department how to use equipment such as chainsaws and chippers.
“Ben’s ability as an arborist allows Council to meet the Australian Standard for tree pruning, which is very useful as many of our trees are ageing,” Scott Rowe said.
Arborist assistant, Peter Robins, recently won the Illawarra Institute of Technology Award for Academic Achievement in Horticultural Landscape. A former concreter, Peter is studying arboriculture after completing his landscape trade last year. He conducts maintenance on street trees in new subdivisions after they are handed over to Council.
“The aim of our tree maintenance strategy is to carry out formative work at a young age to reduce maintenance and structural defects down the track,” Scott Rowe said. “The team’s philosophy is grow the asset, rather than letting it become a liability.”
Individual Winner – Glenn Christie, Community Development Officer, Meander Valley Council, Tasmania
In 1990, Deloraine, now part of Meander Valley Council took a very innovative step for a small, rural Tasmanian municipality – it employed Community Development Officer, Glenn Christie. Initially, there was resistance to his appointment, so Glenn had to use the local media, public speaking and active membership of several local groups to boost his profile.
Just seven years later, Deloraine was named the Australian Community of the Year, becoming the first Tasmanian community to earn the prestigious title.
Executive Officer of Governance, David Pyke, said community development is now strongly accepted by Council and the community as a beneficial and necessary activity. He said when Glenn was appointed community morale was low, partly due to service gaps and the lack of coordination across various groups.
“Unemployment levels were high, there were many problems with the morale of youth and deep social divisions between conservation and traditional land use methods,” David Pyke said. “The rural recession and drought were affecting landowners and the town was about to be bypassed by a new highway. Community development was desperately needed but it was an onerous task.”
In 1993, Deloraine Council joined Westbury, Hadspen, Prospect and Blackstone Heights municipalities to form Meander Valley Council. The population increased from 5,500 in Deloraine to 17,500 at Meander Valley, which covers an area of 3,821 square kilometres.
Glenn had to re-establish his role as a resource officer, consultant and facilitator for the new Council’s diverse range of communities. He worked on consolidating and coordinating existing services and encouraging community groups to participate in new programs, including health, welfare, education, economic, social, cultural and various sporting initiatives.
“The community has really been the driving force behind most of these initiatives,” Glenn said. In 1995, the town of Deloraine set up Giant Steps, an internationally acclaimed program for children with autism based on a model from Montreal, Canada.
“It was just a phenomenal effort by the community to bring this program into Australia,” Glenn said. “It has helped so many families from all around Australia. Some have moved to Deloraine for their children, while other communities have set up their own programs. It really is heart wrenching stuff.”
Glenn also gives the community all the credit for not only saving Deloraine Hospital, but also securing $2.5 million for a complete upgrade of the facility.
Other achievements at Meander Valley include the following.
- Redeveloping the Youth and Community Centre, with funding for a youth worker for three years.
- Establishing the Meander Valley Enterprise Centre.
- Developing a community grants program.
- Staging the first local expo for the International Year of Older Persons, involving 180 older citizens.
“By embracing the concept of community development, Glenn has reaped huge benefits for the Meander Valley municipality, as well as changing the traditional relationship between citizens and their Council in a positive manner,” David Pyke said. “The principles and practices adopted by Council through Glenn’s efforts have given the municipality a sense of pride and unity.”
